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Alert

"The Daily News" closed again, journalists and director arrested

(MISA/IFEX) - On 25 October 2003, police occupied the offices of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, halting operations and detaining staff one day after a court order blocked government efforts to shut it down.

Officials at "The Daily News" said armed police raided the newspaper's offices in central Harare and detained 18 journalists and administrators just hours after the paper published its first edition since being closed more than a month ago. The employees were released after about four hours, but were required to sign statements saying they worked for the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the newspaper's publisher. They also received a verbal warning not to return to work, newspaper staff said.

The following day, police arrested Washington Sansole, a director of "The Daily News", on charges of operating without a licence.

The raid on "The Daily News" occurred one day after the Harare Administrative Court ordered that the newspaper be granted a publishing licence. The licence had not yet been issued, but newspaper executives said they believed the court order was sufficient grounds to resume publishing immediately.

"The Daily News", which was closed after a court found it did not have the licence required by Zimbabwe's strict new media laws, quickly returned to work and published an eight-page edition on 25 October, headlined "We Are Back".

Senior Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told state television that police were enforcing the will of the court. "The police have taken action against the ANZ because 'The Daily News' cannot publish without a licence and must comply with the court's ruling," Bvudzijena said. Zimbabwe state radio quoted unnamed lawyers suggesting that the 25 October publication of "The Daily News" was against the law and in contempt of court.

BACKGROUND:
On 24 October, the Administrative Court ruled that the state Media and Information Commission (MIC) erred when it rejected a licence application from "The Daily News". The court ordered that a new commission be appointed and a licence granted to the newspaper by 30 November. MIC officials, who argued that the paper submitted its application too late, said they would appeal the ruling. The newspaper had initially refused to apply for a license to protest the new media laws.

An editorial in the 25 October edition of "The Daily News" said the law, officially known as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), was bound to fail. "If the government insists that this notorious law, whose passage through parliament was as stormy as some of its provisions were of dubious legality, must continue to be on our statute books, then we can foresee it having to endure humiliation after humiliation as AIPPA is successfully challenged in the courts," the editorial said.